Vietnam, EU officially conclude FTA negotiations

Updated: 15:00’ - 03/12/2015

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President of the European Commission (EC) Jean-Claude Juncker on December 2 witnessed the signing ceremony of the official statement on the conclusion of the negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The event occurred in the framework of Dung’s working visit to Belgium and the Europe (EU).

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President of the EC Jean-Claude Juncker witness the signing ceremony of the official statement on the conclusion of the negotiations on the EVFTA__Photo: Duc Tam/VNA

According to the agreement, the EU will erase the import tax for about 85.6 percent of the taxed goods, equivalent to 70.3 percent of Vietnam’s export value to the EU.

For key Vietnamese exports such as textiles and garments, footwear and seafood, the EU will remove the entire import tax after the FTA has been implemented for seven years.

In return, Vietnam pledged to reduce taxes to zero percent for EU’s cars and motorcycles exports to Vietnam after the FTA has been implemented for nine or 10 years.

The country agreed to abolish export tax for most of tariff lines, and only to maintain export tax on some key commodities, including crude oil and coal.

Vietnam and the EU agreed on customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, technical barriers to trade, trade protection, among others, making a legal framework for cooperation between the two sides and providing favorable conditions for import and export activities of their businesses.

The EVFTA also comprises chapters relating to competitiveness, state enterprises, sustainable development, cooperation in capacity building, and legal and institutional issues.

Prime Minister Dung suggested that pending the official signing and ratification of the EVFTA, the two sides define priority fields for early implementation. He said Vietnam hoped for EU technical assistance in enforcing the FTA and EU’s recognition of Vietnam’s market economy status when the agreement becomes effective.- (VNS/VLLF)